Issue #27 - Which path will you choose?

Given a choice between increasing revenue or increasing customer happiness - which do you choose?

That’s the question I ask when looking at websites and a “Subscribe to our newsletter” pop-up appears. Jonathan Schofield usefully puts it like this:

“…imagine meeting in person for the first time and shouting “SIGN UP TO MY MAILING LIST, SIGN UP TO MY MAILING LIST!”

You’ve got to prioritise. Do you want your visitors to be happy, return often and eventually buy from you with a smile on their face, or, do you want to grow your subscription base, no matter what the cost?

User experience design is developing so quickly, so how do you keep learning? Would you benefit from a short course? TL:DR: you can’t timebox education and education programs need to be iterated upon themselves.

Phil Clevenger works at Adobe. He shares some bedrock principles “that will hopefully help you, too, create a long, happy career in UX design, wherever it may take you”. Being human about it is critical.

Delight isn’t the only thing that’s important. What if you fail to deliver? “Why is it that so many companies plan for the best, but are woefully ill-prepared for the worst?” You gotta get emo over your customers.

How far would you go to fix customer problems with your product or service? Would you go to your customer’s house to see their experience to understand the problems they are facing? And at the weekend?

I see so many online shops do this. User visits a site and after 3 seconds, a pop-up appears asking for their email address. You’re growing your distribution list, but are you also annoying your users who are getting bugged on every site they visit to “Sign up”?

Design should meet user needs and strike a balance with business needs. Here are 9 essential elements of a high-converting product page. Minimalism, good photography and writing people want to read get you in good shape.

Lessons the Sydney studio of ustwo learned while setting up their new studio. People, client relationships and doing good work are key themes, but understanding the nuances of where you setup shop is vital for studio success. Quick tip: make your first hires local - they will bring so much knowledge with them about how to integrate with the local community and business.

Jennifer Aldrich on why you shouldn’t count yourself out just because you’re an introvert. “Find someone who looks as uncomfortable as you feel, and go talk to them.” Also, using your social network to line-up conversations can be very effective.

City planning from app data? Strava Metro has worked with over 70 organizations around the world to understand how more than a half-million bicyclists and pedestrians choose to navigate through cities. Each of these organizations is using the data to understand the general flow of people across their streets over time. That’s designing with data!